While we have made progress in addressing inequality in the world since I was a child, the work is far from done.  There are still examples of inequality all around us. It may be due to race, sexual orientation, social status, gender, religion or a myriad of other factors.

Inequality exists when African American and Hispanic citizens fill our prisons due to racial profiling and when they receive harsher jail sentences for committing the same crime as Caucasians.  Inequality exists when unarmed teenagers are shot by police, when rich children have better funded schools than poor children and when homosexual men and women suffer hate crimes, or have different privileges than heterosexuals. Inequality exists when women and children are forced into the sex trade.

When I think of inequality in my own life, two experiences come to mind. The first happened the summer of 1970, soon after I graduated from college. I decided to spend that summer doing migrant farm labor while I studied for the State Board of Nursing exams I would take in the fall. Three friends and I picked fruit and vegetables in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington State. Continue reading “Experiences of Inequality” →